Stargazing
by Tina Shea
Summary: Destiel; post season 8; Newly human Castiel studies the stars and his feelings with Dean.


Cas woke with a start. "Dean?"

Dean jumped. He had been dozing in the chair next to Cas' bed. He needed to make sure he was okay. And that he didn't just disappear. Not that he could anymore; he had been human for about a month now.

"I'm right here, Cas. You okay?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Yes. Sorry, Dean. I was having a nightmare. I'm not used to sleeping," Cas said quietly.

Dean scoffed. "I haven't been used to sleeping for years now. And you've seen worse than me." Shit. That came out a little more harshly than he had intended. He tried to sound comforting, but that wasn't exactly his forte.

"I don't know. You've seen a lot," he responded, sitting up. "Why do you sleep in here every night? In that chair?"

"I'm worried about you," Dean said simply.

"So you barely sleep? And when you do, it's in that thing? Dean," Cas said, raising his eyebrows. "You don't need to do that for me. And if you really want to, you can come in my bed."

"Whoa, Cas," Dean said, taken aback by the disturbingly appealing offer.

"You always end up talking with me anyway. Sometimes you sit on the edge of my bed and you fall asleep, so you may as well be under the same blanket as I am."

Dean stood up and approached the bed. "Okay, then," he said, climbing in.

Cas sighed happily. "Dean?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Can we go look at the stars?"

Dean sat up on his elbow, looking down at Cas. "Now?"

"We can't exactly look at them during the day, Dean."

"Well, I guess, but haven't you been having nightmares about…uh, the sky?" Dean asked tentatively. Cas talks in his sleep. Screams, in fact. Sometimes he woke up and talked about his dreams with Dean; sometimes he lay on his back, trembling, drenched in sweat, staring up at the ceiling, and Dean pretended to not notice.

"I do," he admitted. "But, I want to see the stars."

Dean studied him. "Okay," he said finally.

Within fifteen minutes, Dean and Cas were laying on the hood of the Impala underneath thick blankets to protect them from the crisp fall air.

Dean wasn't looking at the stars. He was looking at Cas, his angel—_his_ angel, who was studying the night sky with joyous intensity. Dean instinctively reached out and grabbed Cas' hand. Cas looked at him questioningly, but did not pull away. They lay in silence for a long time, shivering and gradually moving closer to each other. Dean felt a stirring in his chest, something that was almost happiness.

"Cas?" he said, breaking the silence.

"Yes, Dean?" Castiel turned his head to look into Dean's green eyes.

"I uhm…I never really had a chance to tell you, but, I'm glad you're okay," he managed.

Cas smiled. "I'm glad you're okay, too. And thank you for looking after me."

"Sure, man," Dean replied. He didn't know how to continue the conversation. He hated talking about his feelings.

"Dean, how do you feel about dating?" Cas asked. "I mean, I haven't…y'know…I don't know how."

Dean blinked incredulously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I just don't know." He threw up his free hand, the other one tightening the grip still remaining on Dean's hand. "I don't know how to do most human things."

"I don't know, Cas. Most of my relationships last one night and that's it," Dean said, hurt. He had always felt protective of Castiel, and they had an admittedly profound bond. And now, Cas was probably just after some chick. Awesome.

"What if you met someone who changed that?" Castiel responded quietly, turning his whole body to face him. Dean's heart was racing.

"I have." Dean brushed his hand against Cas' cheek.

"So have I," he responded, smiling. Dean leaned in and pressed his lips gently against Castiel's, feeling Cas shift beneath the blankets to wrap his arms around Dean. When they finally broke apart, Dean pressed his forehead into Cas', smiling.

"I guess this means you can teach me how to be in a relationship," Cas said with a laugh.

"Anything for you," Dean said, winking and kissing him again.

Once they were back inside, they returned to Cas' bed. Cas rested his head on Dean's chest and they drifted off to sleep together.

There were no nightmares after that.


End file.
